What is ischemia?
Ischemia is the reduction of blood flow in the tissues of the human body; which causes a decrease in the amount of oxygen and nutrients in the affected area.
If these two fundamental elements of the cells are missing, the consequences on the affected tissues and organs can be very serious, sometimes reaching necrosis. Ischemia can arise in any part of the body, but the most affected organs are usually the heart, the brain, the intestine, and the fingers and toes.
If the origin of the lack of irrigation is the heart itself, we usually speak of “hypoperfusion”, that is, decreased circulation, globally.
However, when the problem is more localized, generally due to a problem in an artery, the term ischemia is used, and tissues with this problem are classified as “ischemic”.
What are the symptoms of Ischemia?
The symptomatology depends on the tissue or organ affected by the ischemia. For example, ischemic heart disease is characterized by chest pain, shortness of breath (dyspnea), nausea, and irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), while cerebral ischemia causes paralysis or numbness of the face and limbs, difficulty vision and mobility, confusion, and pupillary abnormalities.
How is the diagnosis of ischemia made?
The diagnosis of Ischemia begins with the objective examination of the symptoms, followed by a series of specific instrumental tests, such as an Electrocardiogram, blood tests, and X- rays.
What are the causes of ischemia?
Ischemia is caused by an obstruction of the arterial vessels, the result of embolisms, thrombosis, or trauma. However, there are some risk factors that can trigger ischemia more easily, including:
- Heart rhythm disturbances
- Disorders of the heart muscle, coronary arteries, or mitral valve
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- atherosclerosis
- hypercholesterolemia
- Obesity
- Smoke
- Advanced age
- Embolism
Can it be prevented?
It is difficult to say for sure what can be done to prevent the onset of ischemia, but what is clear is that you are more likely to avoid it if you lead a healthy life, if you practice physical activity, if you follow a healthy diet. correct, and if tobacco and alcohol are avoided.
Treatments for Ischemia
There are several treatments that are usually used to restore blood flow in the tissues and organs affected by ischemia, such as Angioplasty, Arterial or Coronary Bypass, and the administration of thrombolytic drugs. If the patient has already suffered from ischemia, it is likely that they have a predisposition to suffer relapses and for this reason, there are preventive treatments based on anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs.
Which specialist should I contact?
In the case of ischemia, specialists in Angiology and Vascular Surgery must be consulted.
Types of ischemia
Ischemia can appear abruptly (for example, when an artery is immediately obstructed, by a thrombus or a fragmented atherosclerotic plaque) or progressive (when the artery progressively and slowly narrows, for example, due to atherosclerosis ).
Acute ischemia and chronic ischemia
When ischemia is established abruptly, it is classified as acute, while if it appears progressively, it is referred to as chronic ischemia.
The manifestations of ischemia are very different if it occurs acutely or chronically since in the first case there are very marked consequences (deterioration of the affected area, sometimes irreversibly), while in the case of Chronic ischemia if its evolution is very slow, the body can partially adapt by creating a new circulation (collateral circulation) that can mitigate or partially alleviate the problem.
Treatment of ischemia
There are different ways to treat ischemia, and the choice of one type of treatment or another will depend on the location, degree of evolution, and manifestations of it. The therapeutic approaches, depending on these aspects, can be:
– medical treatment: aimed at solving the problem through drugs (for example, fibrinolytic to dissolve a thrombus)
– Interventional radiological treatment: with the aim of “opening” the lesions from within the artery
– surgical treatment: to restore blood flow in the affected area by surgery, replacing part of the artery, removing the obstacle, or performing an arterial by-pass
